Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1887-09-17

sent q heavy reUolrer ball through him.
Whether it was his cries, or the to them
awful sound and effect Of the pistol shot, or
what, l know not, but the other priests halted,
paralyzed and dismayed, and before they
could come on again Sorais had called out
something, and we, together with the two
queens and most Of the courtiers, were being
surrounded with a wall of armed men. In
moment it was done, and still the priests hest
tated, and the people hung in the balance
like herd of startled buck, as it were,
making no sign one way or the other.
The last yell of the burning priest had died
away, the fire had finished him, and great
silence fell upon the place.
Then the high priest Agon turned, and his
face was as the face of devil. LET the sac
rifice be sacrificed" he cried to the queens.
"Has not sacrilege enough been done by these
strangers and would ye, as queens, throw
the cloak of your majesty over evil doersf
Are not the creatures sacred to the Sun deads
and is not priest of the Sun also dead, but
now slain by the magic of these strangers,
who come as the winds out of heaven, whence
we know not, and who are what we know
not? Beware, o queens, how ye tamper with
the great majesty of the God, even before his
high altar. There is a power that is more
than your power; there is justice that is
higher than your justice. Beware how ye
lift an impious hand against it. Let the sac
rifice be sacrificed, 0 queens"
Then Sorais made answer, in her deep,
quiet tones, that always seemed to me to have
a suspicion of mockery about them, however
serious the theme: "Oh, Agon, thou hast
spoken according to thy desire, and thou hast
spoken truth. But it is thou who wouldst
ho,, In of
thy God. Bethink thee tie mid day sacrifice
is accomplished; the Sun hath claimed his
priest as a sacrifice"
This was novel idea, and the people ap-
plauded it.
"Bethink thee, what are these men! They
are strangers found floating ON the bosom of
a lake. Who brought them here2 How came
they there? How know we that they also
are not servants of the Sunl Is this the
hospitality that We would have our nation
show to those whom chance brings to them,
to throw them to the flames? Shame on vel
shame on vel What is hospitality? To re-
ceive the stranger and show him favor. To
bind up his wounds, and find pillow for
his head and food for him to eat But thy
pillow is the fiery furnace, and thy food
the hot SAVIOR OF the flame. Shame on thee,
I sayl"
She paused u little to watch the effect of
her speech upon the multitude, and seeing
that it was favorable, changed her tone from
one of remonstrance to one of command.
"Hol place there" she cried, "place, l say;
make way for the queens, and those whom
the queens cover with their 'kaf' (mantle)."
"And if / refuse, o queenl" said Agen be-
tween his teeth.
"Then will cut path with my guards"
was the proud answer; say, even in the pres,
ence of the sanctuary, and through the bodies
of thy priests"
Agon turned livid with baffied fury. He
glanced at the people as though Iseditating an
appeal to them, but saw clearly that their
sympathies were all the other way The Zu-
Vendi are very curious and sociable people,
and great as was their sense of the enormity
that we had committed in shooting the sacred
hippopotami, they did not like the idea of the
only real live strangers they had, seen or
heard of being consigned TO a fiery furnace,
thereby putting an end forever to their chance
Of extracting knowledge and information
from and gossiping about us. Agon saw this
and hesitated, and then for the first time
Nyleptha spoke in her soft sweet voice.
"Bethink thee, Agon," she said, "as my
sister queen hath said, these mcn may also be
servants Of the Sun. For themselves they
cannot speak, for their tongues are tied. Let
the matter be adjourned till such time us th9y
have learned our language Who can be con-
denned without hearing? When these men
can plead for themselves, then it will be time
to put them to the proof"
Here was g clever loophole of escape, and
che viudictive old priest took it, little as he
liked it.
$50 be it, o queens" he said. "Let the
nSn 60 in peace, and when they have learned
or tongue then let them speak And l, even
/, will make humble supplication at the altar
lest pestlence fall ON the land by cause of the
sacrilege."
These words were received with a murmur
of applause, and in another minute we We're
marching out of the temple surrounded by
the royal guards,
But it was not till long afterward that we
learned tho exact substance of what had
passed, and how hardly our lives had been
wrung out Of the cruel grippe of the Zu-Vendi
priesthood, in the face of which even the
queens were practically powerless. Had it
not been for their strenuous efforts to protect
US we should have been slain even before we
set foot in the Temple Of the Sun. The attempt
TO drop us bodily into the fiery pit as an OF
feriug was last artihce to attain this end
when several others quite unsuspected by u